Implodes - Black Earth

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5...according to our Brian on Fri 06 May, 2011.

Surprising one this. I've heard of guitarist Ken Camden because I loved that kosmische-styled slab of vinyl that came in last year but now his complete Chicago-based brotherhood/collective have erm...Imploded onto the scene with this rather superb long player. I especially love the shifting, hazy, spangled s-s-s-sound of this record because it gets up, wanders around thoughtfully - perhaps even slightly restlessly - then barges, squeezes & shoves its way through the confines of any one of those pesky pigeonholes that you care to try cage it up in. Is it a dense drone record, an electric camp-fire free-folk travelogue or a fuzzy shoegaze opus? How about a deep zen-like psychedelic masterpiece or a tribalistic slab of dusty, muffled introversion? What does it all mean? Where are these folk coming from and what are they doing to my head at 11.30 pm? I'd not even particularly acknowledged what a complete powerhouse of a label Kranky has actually become 'till recently! Look at that massively tasty roster, both old & new! Now I insist you all add Implodes to your list of new favorite bands because this is a highly meditative, absorbing mind-trip full of shimmering textures, subtle cerebral distortion, discreet heart-melting chord progressions & miniature blurred melodies. 'Black Earth' is a rather splendid, lysergic, trippy record and I'm certainly not gonna namecheck any other artists because as a début it definitely stands alone to these ears, and hopefully yours! Very Kranky - taking from the past the hardiest tools to help shape the sonic future......

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Black Earth is a haunted and magical place. There's an old barn there with many rooms and a silo that's filled with dead insects. Outside there's a big wood pile filled with spider webs that probably has black widows living in it. There are mysterious plants growing everywhere. At night, when the air is crisp and clean, you can lie on your back by the fire and look up at the stars and listen to the animals and insects making their music. A trip to Black Earth could change you forever and you may want to never leave. Implodes has been to Black Earth and they made an album in its honour, dark and murky music for that dark and murky place. Cavernous guitar tones and dense melodies are present everywhere. Hidden beneath the layers of reverb, delay and distortion are deceptively simple and beautiful songs about
experiences that have been obscured for many years that suddenly become profoundly important. The cobwebs just needed to be pushed aside a bit. Implodes is a Chicago quartet that has coalesced around guitarists Matt Jencik and Ken Camden in the last few years, with the group settling on their current line up in 2009. The group has been hunkered down in a secret location, hard at work honing their craft, and occasionally venturing out for for signs of intelligent life in the real world, as well as the increasingly frequent live show. The first pronouncement from the group was a 2009 self- titled cassette, followed by a solo album from guitarist Ken Camden on Kranky, entitled Lethargy & Repercussions in early 2010.

Released on CD and LP.

"Implodes is all kinds of big guitar damage: shoegaze fuzz blasts, sparkly drone, slicks of tuneful sludge, distortion so thick it obscures the keyboards, the vocals, and even the drums." -
Chicago Reader

"Implodes sound every bit as scuzzy and barnacle-caked as an ancient shipwreck." - Chicago Tribune

Tracklisting:

1. Open The Door 2. Marker 3. White Window 4. Screech Owl 5. Oxblood 6. Meadowlands 7. Wendy 8.Experimental Report 9. Song For Fucking Damon II (Trap Door) 10. Down Time 11. Hands On The Rail

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